Contemporary Civilization paper #1

Contemporary Civilization, Essay 1
02 - 09 - 09
Prompt 1: Martin claims that people “live either in convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of boredom.” Does Voltaire think Candide’s resolution at the end of the novel (“but we must go and work in the garden”) is a solution to this problem or exacerbates it?


It seems that Voltaire believes in the absolute bleakness of life. He has two characters, Martin and the Old Woman, maintain the prompt: man is going to be unhappy, one way or another (pages 78 and 49). Based on their overall view of the human condition, both Martin and the Old Woman would predict Candide’s farming enterprise to end in either catastrophe, or boredom. Candide’s journey supports their view, with Candide and almost everyone else falling into pungent unhappiness. He seems stuck in a painful existence when the novel ends. His attempt to farm seems futile in regard to attaining happiness.

This is an oversimplification of the ending, however. Candide is not copping out. His decision to ‘cultivate’ is his attempt to live within the adequate contentment of work, suggested by The Turk, one of his neighbors. According to The Turk, work keeps people from ‘boredom,’ ‘vice,’ and ‘poverty’ (119). While there exists no guarantee of happiness—the entire novel is buried in misery—the novel ends with Candide believing work to be the only way out of unhappiness. He maintains twice--and therefore Voltaire believes--that he and his friends must ‘cultivate’ their property. Work without philosophizing—without thinking—is the way Voltaire believes people should live.

To prove this, it helps to consider the root of unhappiness in the novel, and then comparing this to the only content people in the novel: The Turk and the people of Eldorado. These people escape the apparent truism of “unhappiness, one way or another.” It must be understood what sets these characters apart, and their influence on the more mature Candide.

For the unhappy, living is a contradiction. Candide’s journey proves this. They are unhappy regardless of what they have. The contradiction becomes apparent with those with access to money, and further shows that material possession are beside the point in regards to happiness. Panquette and Giroflee are examples of this by losing all of the money Candide gave them, and becoming even more miserable than before. They did not ‘cultivate’, or in some way maintain their status of life. They saw their riches as an opportunity to splurge. Even though their impulses and desires were limitless, the money was not. Love of money is a joke because the contentment gained is transitory.

That contentment, however, is very minimal, according to the Signor Pococurante of chapter 25. As the picture of boredom, he complains as much as the one-armed, one-legged slave, who is the picture of misery (the slave appears on page 73). Signor is bored because he thinks too much, and expects way too much of the works of literature he reads. He is bored because he has no work. He simply exists. This kind of retreat from the world is opposite from the kind Candide falls into because the Signor has no aims whatsoever except fun, though he has no idea where to experience fun. It bears emphasizing: this man has everything in regard to material possessions. These material possessions, however, are insufficient for happiness, and the reader is shown that money fails to give what it promises: fulfillment. Considering this, the life of Farmer Candide will not be content due to material wealth. He works in order to keep his mind occupied with concrete work. The work keeps his mind away from the stillness of boredom. As The Turk maintains, only work can achieve this. It bears noting that despite Martin’s claim that most people believe themselves to be the most miserable people ever, The Turk does not complain. He seems completely fine.

Mind, then, is the root of unhappiness. In order to become reasonably content, Candide must live with a view of altering the content of his mind. To show the importance of mind, it is important to show that a lack of empathy leads to interpersonal conflicts. When Candide kills the women’s monkey lover, he does so because he failed to consider the chase from their point of view (59). The other acts of brutality in this novel occur for the same reason. Individuals are stuck in their own heads, and fall into misery when they fail to understand their impotency The world will progress regardless of their desires. There will be earthquakes, and plagues. There will be death. There will be boredom and misery. Therefore, interaction with the outside world is prone to some sort of disappointment. Though Voltaire seems very occupied with events occurring in the world, he shows that the attempts to control what happens aretile.

An example of the futility of controlling the world are the six kings of chapter 26. These men not only were rich, but they had political power. Of anyone in the novel, they had the best means to alter the status of the outside world. None of them, however, could save themselves. In fact, their power only acted as a target on their respective backs. Furthermore, the last page of the novel carries a list of deposed monarchs. Being king is about just as dangerous as being any one else. In light of this, it seems futile for a Farmer Candide or any other individual to engage with the world in a stable manner, or to hope to control the world outside of themselves. For instance, Candide failed to keep Cunegonde beautiful, and James The Anabaptist saved the sailor, only to get killed.

Living falls short of total futility, however. The King of Eldorado and his people, the only happy people in the book, show that happiness is possible according to Voltaire. They are different from the people of the outside world because they refrain from conflict and gain. Each individual refuses to impose their view of the world on others (67). The King greets Candide and Cacambo as equals, while a foreign leader would have required obeisance (68). It is a world without conflict because no one desires anything. Eldorado lacks the rat race prevalent in the rest of the world because everyone minds their own business. They cultivate their garden.

For Voltaire, unhappiness occurs when people want that they don’t have. In order to thrive then, people must ‘cultivate’ what they have. ‘Cultivation’ has nothing to do with the wealth of Signor. It is the cultivation of the self. Candide farms neither for food nor wealth. He farms to keep himself occupied. The abyss of the mind is only wrestled to complacency by work performed for its own sake. If this work is performed with a desire to perform something else, then the worker will become unhappy, as Cacambo does in the novel‘s end. In this case, Candide‘s decision to farm would foster the problem. Therefore, he must forego desire.

When Candide meets The Turk, the Turk has no desire. This is indicated by his apathy toward the outside world. His mind is on what he can control: his immediate surroundings. A desire for something outside his immediate surroundings would only lead to “boredom, vice and poverty.” The mind’s desire for a far away prize only destroys the desirer. For instance, when Candide leaves the uptopic Eldorado, he does so for desire of Cunegonde (70). This desire leads to further sadness. The danger of desire is further echoed by the history of Eldorado itself: the Incas used to live there, but left to conquer (66). The conquerors, however, were conquered by the Spaniards. Desire, therefore, is the ultimate destroyer. No element of life is more damaging toward the quest for happiness than desire, and because of this, most thought must be cut out of life. This includes philosophy (120).

When in chapter six Candide is being flogged, and witnesses the hanging of Pangloss, he laments, “If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?” Whenever Candide sees that the world is bad, the optimistic philosophy only serves to aggravate his distaste for the world because the “best of all possible worlds” falls short of his expectations. Philosophy, then, leads to unhappiness, and must be discarded.

In the end, what has changed for Candide is that he has quit chasing the carrot at the end of the stick. He understands now that the road of the chase is laden with broken glass, and the carrot is spoiled. In this way, he follows the example of the people of Eldorado, and therefore is beginning to fulfill Voltaire’s requirements for happiness. While the contentment attained here falls short of bliss, Candide can escape misery and boredom. Before long, this begins to actually work, and everyone working with Candide becomes content, even the feckless Giroflee. Their work compounded with lack of thought--lack of desire--help them feel at home.